Just Me

  Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash As someone who is profoundly deaf, I have discovered one thing: If I want to drive safely and effectively, I have to stay focused on what is ahead of me. This is what I learned when I was learning how to drive. I read lips in addition to relying on sign language, and so if I want to know what someone is saying, I have to look at them.    This could spell disaster if I am driving, because that means taking my eyes off of the road. Not a good idea if I can’t hear anything! (Well, not a good idea, in general.) So I learned that the best thing to do when I am driving is to just stay focused on driving and not so much on having conversations while driving.    The thing of it is, though, is that most hearing people like having conversations while in the car. I have noticed that drivers are often talking with passengers while driving, and that people who drive taxis will often chat with their fares. In fact, as an author, I ha...

  I thought that November was a busy month but the month of December proved to be even busier! It wasn’t just the holiday season that had us busy; I was also doing a lot of writing. I managed to write another ebook this month as well as a children’s book. This was in addition to some articles I wrote, as well.   Aside from the writing, I was also busy with driving my oldest to and from work. Both of my kids went on Winter Break this month but my oldest works at the university so he had some remote work for this particular job.   My youngest also got their driver’s permit this month. My husband and I have been taking turns monitoring them while they practice driving. My oldest does not drive so my youngest has had the chance to drive him to or from work. It has certainly been a nice break from me driving so much! Plus, my youngest joined the LGBTQ+ group which my oldest attends every week, so with both of them going there, it’s less driving and less rush for one ...

So today I had the opportunity to go for a long drive. At first, I thought I had run out of ideas on where to go. I have already explored so many different routes, gone to other cities and taken roads less traveled. But then I remembered something else: I have a list of places I still want to explore. Many of them are nearby. And so, today, I was happy to be able to cross one place off that list. We went out to Sweet Home. A coworker has talked about it a lot and i was curious about it. So today was the day to check it out!  Fortunately, it was easy to get there. I had looked up the route on Google Maps and wrote down the directions (because there's always a chance I could end up somewhere where I can't get a signal and Google Maps won't work anymore -- as has happened a few times). I followed these directions and was surprised at how easy it was to get there from my location. Sadly, we were not able to visit any businesses there or stay long. But I am just so glad we w...